Drying fibrous masses



May 5, 1936. E. ,1. ABBOTT Danae manous'mssas Filed Sept. 25, 1929 5 Spoofs-Sheet 2 @@Q mw fimA QQQ QQQ @QQ @@7 b May 5, 193a.

E. J. ssorr DRYING FIBROUS Filed Sept. 25, 1929 I i- 27 l n mfrfmiiiii 1 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Edward JAbbofi b 3 Afi z s.

May 5; 1936. E. J. ABBOTT 2,039,285

DRYING FIBROUS NASSES Filed Sept. 25, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 76 Inveniof 77 Edward J Abbofl. f4 Z9 i ff Aflyls May 5, 1936. a. J. A BBOTT 2,039,285

DRYING FIBROUS MASSES Filed Sept. 25, 1929 5 sheets-sheet 5 Invent Edward (I A it.

At gs.

Patented May 5, 1936 UNITED STATES DRYING FIBROUS MASSES Edward J. Abbott, Wilton, N. 11., assignor to Abbott Machine Company, Wilton, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application September 25, 1929, Serial No. 395,049

14 Claims.

This invention relates to drying wet fibrous masses such as wound sliver, rovings or yarns, hereinafter referred to as yarn, and is concerned with a method of drying which will leave the fibrous mass in the most suitable condition with respect to retained moisture, and with the provision of durable, convenient and efficient apparatus for practicing the method.

After yarn has been treated with liquid such as for instance a dye, wash or bleach liquor, a large quantity of the liquid is retained and must be removed without injury to the fibers. It is a Well recognized fact that many kinds of yarn are injured by too rapid drying, and that it is often necessary to maintain a certain degree 01' dampness or humidity in the drying atmosphere in order to secure the most satisfactory results.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus by which the entire volume of the yarn is uniformly dried to a predetermined condition, without removing from the yarn the moisture content desirable therein. To this end the apparatus may provide means for recirculating moist air or other means for limiting the rate and final degree of desiccation of the material treated so that treatment will not be deleterious to the yarn, will be eilicient in consumption of timeand heat, and which may be regulated as desired in accordance with the particular kind of yarn being dried.

Other advantages of the invention flow from the particular details of construction and operation of the apparatus as will appear to one skilled in the art from an examination of the following specification taken in connection with the drawings which form a part thereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus embodying one form of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of such apparatus;

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the yarn drying chamber in which are located a number of spools of yarn. the door of the chamber being open;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line l--4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a support for a spool of yarn, the spool being indicated in dotted lines as located upon the support;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an end view of the support taken from v the right of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view illustrating a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is an elevation of the modification shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3 showing a modification; and

Fig. 11 is a detail section corresponding to Fig. 5 5 further showing said modification.

Fig. 12 is a side elevation of one of the air heating units, this view having superposed thereon a fragmentary diagrammatic illustration in the nature of a vertical section through the 10 honeycomb structure of the heating surfaces of the unit.

This invention is adapted for drying wound masses of sliver, rovings, or yarn after these have been treated with liquor for dyeing or other purl5 poses. The apparatus selected as an illustration of this invention is one which might well be used for treating wound beams, spools or section beams in carrying out the drying step disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 97,588, 20 filed March 26, 1926. It will be understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the drying of yarn in the form of spools, but is for use in many other ways such as for drying yarn in different forms and for drying other types of materials.

The yarn to be treated is placed in a drying chamber l0 into which air is forced, preferably by a blower ll of any desired type, preferably exerting a constant effort and delivering a volume of flow according to resistance against it, such as a centrifugal blower. Air is supplied to the blower through an inlet pipe l2 into which air is drawn by the blower ll through an emcient air filter, preferably a plurality of bag 111- ters l3, here shown as a series of severally replaceable textile fabric bags on frames I 3 slightly larger than the aperture in the front wall of a suction or air entrance container M. The air is forced by the blower ll through a pipe I! into a plenum chamber I 6 adjacent the drying chamber l0 and connected therewith. The air feeding pipe i5 is preferably made in two sections, being separated by an air heater H, which in the present embodiment is shown as com prising three sections which may be metallic thin-walled air-tube hot water or vapor radiators of the well-known honeycomb type commonly used in automobiles. Referring to Fig. 12, thin metallic walls I! which constitute the air heatmg surface of the heater are shown by way of example as arranged in a honeycomb structure providing hexagonal air tubes II surrounded by enclosed space H through which the fluid heating medium can pass from the fluid entrance to the fluid exit of the heater. This type of heater is specifically advantageous because of its high proportion of heating surface to metallic mass, so that its heating eflect responds rapidly to change in temperature or rate of supply of the fluid heating medium supplied to the interspaces between its heating surfaces. The effective temperature of the air flow through the apparatus is preferably automatically controlled by changing the effective temperature of the walls of the passages through the heater units, or some of them, and is also manually controllable by the operator, as presently explained.

A heating medium, usually steam, is supplied to the heater I! through a line l8 which, Fig. 1, provides three valve controlled headers I9 which enter the tops of the heater sections, such for example as those described in United States Patents Nos. 1,603,358 of October 19, 1926, 1,625,000 of April 19, 1927, or 1,713,707 of May 21, 1929, the temperature-sensitive element of the regulator being located within the drying chamber Hi. In the steam line i8 is mounted an automatic pressure regulator 20 which varies the pressure in heater i1 inversely according to the realized temperature in chamber l0 and may be of any desired type. Steam, after passing through the heater i1, is discharged through headers 2| of a return line 22 by which it is conducted away from the apparatus. The return line 22 is preferably provided with a steam trap 23, and both the sup ply line I8 and the return line 22 are provided with valves 24, 25 respectively.

The air entering the drying chamber I0 passes of! through a stack 25 by which it may be conducted to the exterior of the apparatus either directly or indirectly. The stack 26 is connected to the air inlet pipe 12 by a duct 21 so that the air may be returned to the blower and the stack 26; duct 21 and air inlet l2 are each provided with dampers 28, 29 and 30 respectively by which the circulation of the air may be controlled, as de sired, as will be pointed out more in detail herein below.

The blower H is operated by a motor 3| which may be controlled by a starter unit 32. The temperature of the drying chamber I0 may be determined at any time by reference to a thermometer 33 mounted upon the upper wall of the chamber. The front of the chamber is closed by a door 34 which travels in upright tracks 35 and which may be raised by means of a cable 35 that passes to a counterweight or pulley in any well known manner. Since the manner of raising or lowering the door 34 forms no part of the present invention, it is not disclosed in detail. The drying chamber I0 is divided into three compartments by horizontally extending drip pans 31 which, as is clearly shown in Fig. 4, are inclined forwardly so that any liquid therein flows to the front of the chamber, and the spools of yarns in the various compartments are protected therefrom. The chamber l5 into which the air is fed is separated from the chamber III by a vertical wall 38 upon which the rear ends of the drip pans 31 are supported, and in which are provided a plurality of openings 39, through which the air flows from the compartment [6 into the drying chamber l0.

As pointed out above, the apparatus selected for illustration is particularly adapted for drying spools of yarns which have been treated with liquid as, for example, dye liquor, and the means for supporting such spools in the drying chamber will now be described in detail, attention being directed particularly to Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7. Rigidly secured to the wall of the compartment I. are a plurality of spool supportingand blast diatributing spindles which project into the drying chamber I0 through the openings 39 in the wall 38. As shown particularly in Fig. 5, the spindles are preferably in the form of T-beams 4| rigidly secured to the wall 40 by means of bolts 42 which pass through the flat of the beams and angle brackets 43 carried by the wall 40. The beams are further supported by similar angle brackets 44 mounted upon the wall 38 and bolts 45 which engage the flat 46 of the T-beam. By this construction, the T-beams 4| rigidly bridge the space between and conjoin the walls 40 and 35 to resist air pressures and stresses from the heavy wet spools, and are themselves stiilly held against downward or rotary turning stresses by their connection to both the walls 38 and 40 of the plenum chamber. The upper edges of the openings 3! may be straight, as shown, and the flats 46 of the T-beams rest against such edges. As a result the air will principally flow from the plenum chamber i6 into the chamber l0 below the flat 45 and at either side of the shanks 41.

In order to provide a bearing for the inner ends of the yarn carrying spools, there is secured to the face of. the wall 38 in chamber ID at each opening 39 a triangular plate 48 having a central opening 49 which conforms in shape and dimension to the opening 33, so that the plate 48 in no way interferes with the passage of the air. The plate 48 is secured to the wall 38 in any desired manner, as by the bolts 50, the upper of which pass through the angular bracket 44, while the lower pass through a plate 5| by which the wall 38 is reinforced, as shown in Fig. 5. The plate 48 is provided with an annular bearing boss 52 machined to fit an annular recess 54* in a ring 53, having at its rear face a flange 54 which surrounds the outer edge of the boss 52. In the ring 53 is provided an annular recess 55 which may be filled with suitable packing 56 yieldingly to seal the bearing of the end of spool 51. Ring 53 is free to turn with spool 51 on the bearing boss 52 to avoid turning the spool on its packing.

The wound spools 51 comprise a perforate cylindrical portion 58, preferably of a substantial internal diameter, of the order of six inches or more, having annular flanges 58 at each end.

The spools are wound with a relatively thin annular winding, for example to an exterior diameter of from ten to twelve inches. They are provided at each end with annular extensions or bosses 60. Each T-beam 4i terminates short of the outer wall of the drying chamber, and to the shank 41 thereof the legs 6| of a bifurcated cylindrical stud 63 are secured in any suitable manher, as by rivets 62. Stud 63 is externally threaded at 64, and provides a right angle shoulder 55, Fig. 5. The spools 51 are longer than the beams 4| and in order to mount them for free rotation on a bearing on their spindles are rotatably secured in place by means of caps 66, which engage the cylinders 63, each cap 66 having at its periphery an annular recess 81 adapted to receive packing material 68, and having a central bearing opening 69 in which is rotatably mounted an internally threaded bearing thimble 10 having a flange H which projects at the inner face of the cap 66. Keyed or otherwise rigidly secured t the other end of the bearing thimble I0 is a knob or handle 12; the machined face 13 bears on the outer face of the cap 65, so that the thimble is held in place in the cap but is free to rotate in the opening 69 when. the thimble I0 is screwed on the stud 63. In order to fix the distance between thecap and the ring 53 there may be slipped on the cylinder 63 a plurality of antifriction washers I4 between the shoulder 65 and the flange ll of the thimble. The spools are customarily of considerable length, and in order to facilitate their insertion upon the beams 4| inclined centering plates 15 are secured to the upper face of the flat 46. The boss 60 at the inner end ofeach spool enters the recess 55 and the boss 60 at the outer end thereof is received in the recess 6'! of the cap 66. The packings 56 and 68 in the recesses 55 and 61 thus seal the ends of the spools and prevent the escape of any air past them. Ring 53 and thimble'lll are bearings on which the spool may be rotated about the axis of spindle 4|, without permitting substantial leakage from the plenum chamber.

Under certain conditions there may be substituted spring packings in place of the packings 56 or 68. Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate such a packing '16 in the recess 55 which comprises a washer I1 separated from the bottom of the recess 55 by a plurality oi spring plates 18. The washer 11 is preferably located about midway of the depth of the pocket 55 and bears on its outer face a supply of packing 19 against which the boss 60 at the end of the spool will rest. Each of the spools 51 is mounted upon a beam M by means of a cap 66 in the manner above described with the interior of the cylindrical portion 58 in alignment with an opening 39 through which air is forced by the blower H. The ends of the spools are sealed as pointed out above and therefore the air will pass through the apertures into the body of the yarn on the spool. When the drying chamber-J0 of the present embodiment is filled, it contains l8 spools, six in each compartment, see particularly Fig. 3. After the spools have been properly located, the movable door 34 is lowered and the motor 3| set in motion. The blower H forces the clean air, of which the relative humidity is known, drawn from the intake l2 through the filters I3, through the supply pipe i5, and air heater ll, into the compartment l6, and thence through the openings 39 into the interior of the spools 51 carried by the beams 4|. Steam has already been introduced through the inlet line l8 so that the air when it enters the chamber is considerably heated. The air passing through the orifices 8D in the spools and through the yarn wound thereon obviously removes a portion of "the moisture therefrom and passes out of the chamber through the stack 26. When it is desirable to raise the temperature of the air by recirculating it, this is done by closing, or partially closing, the dampers 28 and 30 and opening or partially opening the damper 29, so that all or a portion of the air is diverted from the stack 25 through the duct 21 and is again forced by the blower through the heater l1 into the drying chamber Ill. The thermometer 33 permits the operator to adjust closely the temperature of the drying chamber. The pressure ofsteam in the air heater, and consequently its temperature, is regulated according to the attained temperature at 33, and the temperature thereafter is automatically maintained by the regulator 20.

The wound masses on the spools are subjected to a through blast of the heated air, dampers 26 and 30 being open and damper 29 closed, for the predetermined time required, according to the constant original moisture content of the wound masses, to evaporate all except a predetermined quantity of the water.

The steam valves are now closed, the dampers 28 and 30 closed, and damper 29 opened, for the purpose of circulating a known volume of air (that contained in the apparatus) at a decreasing temperature. The consequence of this is to continue evaporation of the water in the fibrous masses to a balance point determined by the temperature and the increasing relative saturation of the air. As the air approaches saturation and the temperature lowers by evaporation and radiation toward a dew-point, evaporation lessens and finally ceases short of complete desiccation of the moist fibrous masses and globular condensation in the air. The wound masses are thus conditioned uniformly as to moisture content to a degree dependent on the humidity of the circulating air, which, moisture and volume being constant, is measured by the temperature. If th s humidity is near saturation, no part of the wound masses is too dry, since parts which may have been made too dry recover moisture from the wet air. The final temperature is desirably the room tem erature for storage of the spools.

While the entire cylindrical portions 58 of the spools 51 are uniformly provided with orifices 80, those at the upper parts of the spool barrel are subjected to lesser blast pressures from the effect of the flats 46 of the beams 4| extending from the tops of the openings 39, whereas those at the sides and bottom of the spool are at greater oressures. The flats 46 act as battles to direct the air downwardly but they are spaced from the sides and tops of the spools a sufficient distance so that the air can pass through the orifices in the tops under lessened resistance from the fibrousmass when partly dry, by which volume of flow through the upper part of the fibrous mass will be increased. The moisture in the yarn on the spools naturally tends to flow by gravity, from the upper portions to'the lower portions of the wound masses, so that initially the lower parts of the wet fibrous mat are wetter and resist penetration by a greater resistance than the upper parts. After a substantial evaporation, this condition is less evident, but a flow of moisture continues to the lower portions until the entire body of the wound mass has been evaporated to a relatively low moisture content. Initially some liquid may fall onto the drip pans 31, flow to front of the chamber to, and be carried off by suitable drains (not shown) if desired. The drip pans 3'! prevent irregular Wetting by drip from one row of spools falling onto the spools in the next row.

For increased uniformity of drying, the spool; may be turned through a half-turn on their bearings at intervals, desirably of about every fifteen minutes. This may be done by opening door 34 and turning the spools by hand; or in another way mentioned below.

When the blower I I is the preferred centrifugal blower, the volume of air forced through the fibrous mass increases as the moisture content and resistance to flow decrease. Liquid held in the capillary interstices of the winding increases its resistance to the passage of an air current at a given pressure; as the drying progresses this resistance decreases, with consequent decrease of air pressure and increased volume of the air displaced, to provide increasingly rapid uniform drying with less expenditure of power and no damage to the material. If on the other hand a constant-volume source of air were employed the pressure must be sufficiently high initially to d humidity of the air is directly proportional thevolume ofairpassedthroughinaunitof Because the annular space occupied by yarn has a relatively large internal diameter as compared with its peripheral diameter, there is not sufiicient difference in area between the internal and external surfaces of the wound mass to cause much difference in velocity of passage of the air current as between internal and external layers of the winding. This secures a relative uniformity of treatment; I find that the time of completion of drying decreases inversely at a greater rate than decrease of the thickness of the wound mass under the same volume of flow, so that the operation of this device represents a great gain in time.

The bag filters l8 insure air free from dirt or grit and thus eliminate the danger of driving such dirt or grit into the spools and through the orifices 88 thereof into the yarn. The use of the heater I! with its independent sections permits a closer regulation of the temperature of the drying air since the supply of heating fluid to one or more of the sections can be cut off according to the initial temperature of the air. The heater may also be controlled as a whole by the valve 24.

Referring now to- Figs. 10 and 11, instead of turning the spools 51 by hand one by one, the bearing rings 58 of Fig. 5 may be made as shown at 58' in Fig. 11, to provide sprocket teeth 53. about which an endless chain 80, Fig. 10, may be passed as shown, holes being provided near the upper back edges of pans 31 and in the right-hand wall of chamber N for its passage. Exteriorly of chamber ill the chain 88 passes about an idler sprocket l2 and an operating sprocket 8|, respectively, on shafts bearing in brackets as at 84, fastened to said wall. The shaft 83 for the operating sprocket 8! may be fast to it and project forwardly to receive a handle 88 for operating it; or if desired, to receive a chain wheel or pulley of a mechanical drive of any desired kind. The sprockets 8| and 82 and their bearings may be covered by a casing 85, in which case leakage from chamber ill through the holes for chain 80 is minimized and is not substantial.

While certain embodiments only of the apparatus of this invention have been shown and described, these species are oflered by way of illustration of the genus, and many other embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. Art of drying wound fibrous material in'cylindrical packages, comprising interposing the winding in a wet state in a flow of air under pressure confined to radial fiow from within the package, and subjecting the lower part of the package to which the wetting liquid tends to flow by gravity to a greater velocity pressure of the impinging current of air than the velocity pressure applied to the upper portion from which liquid tends to fiow by gravity.

2. Art of drying wet annular packages of wound fibrous material comprising supporting the packages in horizontal position in a current of drying air confined to radial flow from within the package. the air current being directed to impinge downwardly and laterally with greater force than upwardly during the initial stages of evaporation.

8. Art of drying wet annular packages of wound fibrous material comprising supporting the packages in horizontal position in a current of drying air confined to radial fiow from within the package, the air current being directed to impinge downwardly and laterally with greater force than upwardly during the initial stages of evaporation,

and turning the package on its axis from' time to time during drying.

4. In an apparatus for drying windings on perforate spools, walls defining a plenum chamber and a drying chamber, spindles for supporting such spools and means for introducing air from of air preferentially to the lower portion of the winding upon each spool.

6. In apparatus for drying, horizontally extending spindles for supporting hollow wound masses and means for blowing air into the interior of the said masses, said spindles comprising T- beams, the flats whereof are above the shanks and constitute bailies directing the flow of air initially toward the lower portions of the wound mass.

7. In apparatus for drying horizontally extending spindles for supporting hollow wound masses and means for blowing air into the interior of the said masses, said spindles comprising T-beams, the flats whereof are above the shanks and constitute baffles directing the flow of air initially toward the lower portions of the wound mass, in combination with means permitting said wound masses to be turned about the axes of said spindies.

8. In a yarn drying apparatus, a drying chamber, a compartment adjacent said chamber and connected therewith by a plurality of openings, mcans for supplying air under pressure to said compartment, spindles extending through the openings into the chamber upon which yarn carrying spools having perforated cylindrical portions are rotatably mounted with the interior thereof in alignment with the openings, said spindles extending substantially the entire length of the spools, means on the outer end of each spindle for sealing the outer end of the spool, means for rotatably mounting the outer end of the spool on said spindle including a bearing on which said sealing means rotates on the spindle, and means for sealing the inner ends of the spools whereby the air passes from the compartment, through the openings into the interior of the spools and thence, through the yarn thereon, into the chamber.

9. In a yarn drying apparatus, a drying chamter, a compartment adjacent the chamber and separated therefrom by a wall through which a plurality of openings are provided to connect the compartment and chamber, means for supplying air under pressure to the compartment, spindles extending through the openings into the chamber, upon which yarn carrying spools, having perforated cylindrical portions, are mounted with the interior thereof in alignment with the openings, said spindles comprising beams supported at one end in the compartment, and means for sealing the ends or the spools whereby the air passes from the compartment through the openings into the interior of the spools and thence, through the yarn thereon, into the chamber, said sealing means being adapted to permit rotation of said spools.

10. In a yarn drying apparatus, a drying chamber, a plenum chamber adjacent the drying chamber and separated therefrom by a wall through which a plurality of openings are provided to connect said chambers, means for supplying air under pressure to the plenum chamchamber, spindles extending through the openings between the chambers, upon which yarn carrying spools, having perforated cylindrical portions, are mounted with the interior thereof in alignment with the openings, said spindles comprising T-beams supported at one end in the compartment, the flats of the beams being at the upper edges of the openings and extending into the spools in horizontal planes and spaced below the tops thereof, and means for sealing the ends of the spools whereby the air passes from the compartment through the openings into the interior or the spools and thence through the yarn thereon into the chamber, the flats of the beams acting as battles to impede the passage of the air through the orifices at the top of the spools.

11. In a drying apparatus for fibrous masses wound on spoo1s, a drying chamber and a plenum chamber, a spindle, walls of one of said chambers supporting said spindle, a packing and bearing ring for one end of a spool, a bearing seat on one of said walls adapted to receive said ring, a packing ring for the other end of said spool, a bearing member on said spindle, said last-named packing ring being rotatably mounted on said bearing member and means for forcing one or said packing rings longitudinally of said spindle toward the other, to hold and pack the ends of a spool between them and permit rotation of the wound mass while held and packed.

12. Art of drying large wet dense wound masses or fibrous material, comprising subjecting said masses in the form of large diameter annular packages, of which the internal diameter is at least half the external diameter, said internal diameter being of the order of six inches, to outward radial flow of heated air initially under a pressure sufiicient to expel liquid positively from the said packages and progressively decreasing in pressure and increasing in volume of fiow as the positive expulsion of the liquid diminishes.

13. Art of drying wet annular packages of wound fibrous material comprising establishing a fiow of compressed air radially through the packages under pressure sufiicient to expel liquid therefrom positively, supplying heat to the fiow of air, progressively increasing the velocity and volume of air fiow as the liquid is expelled, thereby increasing the evaporating effect of the air as the expelling effect diminishes, and varying the heat su plied to the fiow inversely according to the attZined temperature in the region of the packages.

14. Art of drying fibrous masses wound on spools, comprising causing a fiow or heated air radially through the wound mass under pressure sufiicient to expel liquid positively from the mass, then progressively with the elimination of liquid from the mass causing the volume of air flowing through the mass to increase, thereby causing the heated air then to dry the mass predominantly by evaporating action, and upon the mass attaining a desired degree of dryness causing the air which has been forced through the mass to be recirculated through the mass while allowing the recirculating air to cool and approach its dew-point.

. EDWARD J. ABBO'I'I. 

